Flickering Embers
by Qing Ri
Summary: A young girl arrives at the Sanctuary, riddled with battle scars. She recovers quickly, and soon it's clear what her very existance could mean. Set in the gap in season 3 when Tesla and Biggie are the only others at the Sanctuary.
1. Blood On Fire

_Author's Note  
>..::PLEASE READ::..<br>This is literally just me playing with an idea.  
>So, fans will realise whats going on, and i'll say now, i'm using teleportation as an almost general power. Not sure how that works yet lol.<br>I would like to know people's veiws on the concept and what reactions the character, Kel, would get rather than just comments on the writing itself. Tesla's is an obvious reaction of course._  
><em>Any questions or ideas feel free to PM me, and as for the reactions, ask me questions directed at Kel because i'm not sure how else to get personalities across.<em>

_So, may the conroversies begin._

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><p>I woke up cuffed.<p>

The lovely Hispanic family I'd stayed with were likely dead because of me; bounty hunters are merciless and they were too close, I shouldn't have stopped. That poor little girl… the youngest had clung to my leg and didn't want to leave me alone.

I started to open my eyes, still groggy from the attack I didn't remember.

"Now lookie here." I heard someone say. They took me harshly from the chin and yanked me head around to face them. "Not going to defend yourself?" The man asked me, laughing.

"I don't know what you mean." I said, putting a tremble in my words and giving him a scared look, "I just want to go home!"

The bounty hunter pulled out a blade and held it at my cheek. "You can't fool me. Pretty little liar aren't you?" The blade bit into my skin and I felt a warm trickle going down my neck. The bounty hunter held up a small test tube with his other hand and put it in the way of the trail of blood.

I pulled at the cuffs until they started to threaten to take the skin from my hands with them.

"If you're planning on injecting that pure… it'll kill you. Slowly and painfully."

The hunter half-grinned at my attempt. "Please. You think I'll believe a little impure bitch like you?"

"I've seen it happen. Writhing in pain on the floor in front of me. It brought out latent abilities in the last guy to catch up with me. He went to light a cig and he went up in flames; couldn't control them."

He laughed.

Thing is, it's all true.

I shut my eyes again; I had to concentrate hard for this to work. The squeezing pain deep in my abdomen told me I had succeeded.

I kicked the bounty hunter in the back, he landed flat on his face and blood quickly spread from the area. He'd landed on his knife. With his blood mingling with mine, clean-up would be difficult. Checking my surroundings, I found he's taken me to an empty warehouse, like one of the many in this city. There was a bucket close by, and a forklift just outside. I emptied the contents of the lift's tank into the bucket and took it back to the scene.

As I pilfered the guy's pockets he groaned, clearly still alive and, once I had taken all of value to me, I lifted him by the neck and slit it deeply. I spread the fuel over everything of importance and ripped a rag from my shirt and lit the end of it with a stolen lighter. Standing well back, I screwed it into a ball and threw it into the petrol. The bounty hunter went up in flames, my blood with him.

Outside I took the warm, hooded coat from the forklift and headed back downtown.


	2. Ashes Behind Me

_So much for being stuck.  
>So while i should have been doing the coursework that's due on Friday i wrote two and a half chapters.<em>

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><p>After walking into the working industrial district on the opposite side of town, I found a secluded spot and snuck though the gates.<p>

"Baldwin?" I asked the petrol-filled air, searching for my latest informant. I turned another corner and there, huddled in the corner under a hooded coat was the abnormal I had been looking for. "Hey, Baldwin!"

He turned to face me. "Kel. I was told you were caught."

I took another step towards him and he backed away. "Alright…" I muttered under my breath, "I need to know who's in town. Who's near? I was caught which means I need bury myself low and know who might be next."

"Drusus. Jarl Sedna. Matthan. Sammie Braidy."

Drusus, the bastard. He was a humanoid abnormal, sold his own kind for his own gain. I'd have to tread carefully, if he caught up with me I would be strung up with my blood sold by the phial over decades. There was a heavily sadistic streak in the humanoid.

"How close is Drusus?"

"West side. Others are out of town but close."

"Thanks dude." I threw Baldwin his payment and picked out a place name at random, "Wichita. That's next if things go south."

Baldwin was part of a near global network of suspected telepaths; information ran freely throughout. Some helped people like me, some sold what they learnt to gangs or abnormal mafia. It was a massive risk to take, but helped nonetheless.

I started to leave by the same way I came when I heard Baldwin pipe up again. "And Kel?" I stopped.

"They all know, about Brad, the one you've probably killed. He was going to give them all a sample of your blood and sell you to the highest bidder. They'll send private personnel soon."

I cursed under my breath and checked the pockets of my coat. There was just about enough for a few essentials and a ride out of town.

**_New City_**

Soon was an understatement. There was someone following me from almost the moment I stepped out of the cordoned-off area. After judging my thirst I was contemplating a slight theft from the local blood back, I thought there was no way I'd get away with it with someone on my tail.

Then the thought struck me… I was being followed by someone whose boss most likely classed as disposable, especially for a prize like myself.

I tried not to do this sort of thing. The hunt, the kill, the chase, it all gave me a thrill like no other.

I allowed him to catch up and I could almost feel the excitement running over him like sweat. His mouth was watering at the thought of his 60% cut I was sure. Clenching my left fist tightly I turned into the next allyway as it got dark. Before he turned to follow me I crouched beside one of the bins and put my hand against my mouth to hide my quickened breaths.

The dark coat hid me from him so he started to search every which way.

My stomach squeezed quickly this time; it was easier like this. I threw away the gun that sat in his jeans and took him from behind, swinging him to face me as I slammed him against the alley wall.

"Bounty Hunters! Always one after the other, leeching from each other's hunts." I moaned as he struggled to get out of my grasp.

I ran my nail over his cheek and to his neck, staring as the scratch turned from white to red.

"Monsters, the lot of you-"  
>"If you hadn't been on my tail I would be at the morgue by now. Me without blood," My voice shook as my heart pounded and I started to see red. I knew his hardened hear was going rapidly too, "It's worse than Cryolam without water."<p>

Cryolam, difficult to transport because of its constant need for gallons of water, but the price was extremely worth the effort.

The nail dug into the flash on the bottom of his neck.

"You're sick!" The bounty hunter told me with a snarl.  
>I looked up at him, "Just desperate."<p>

His neck sliced open easily and, thankfully, the loud noises of constant business and movement drowned out the sounds of one more bounty hunter being sliced open.


	3. And Flames Ahead

_So much for being stuck.  
>So while i should have been doing the coursework that's due on Friday i wrote two and a half chapters.<em>

_Please R&R :D  
><em>

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><p>Hiding the body was the hard part. Setting things alight got rid of everything, but the authorities would find the pieces of the corpse and despite having neither identity nor any proof, it would be news.<p>

I spent the night back in Old City; it was easier to find an unclaimed and undisturbed spot within those empty, abandoned buildings.

Mostly undisturbed, that is. I was woken early by movement nearby.

"Who's there?"

No answer came. Then, a flash of black against the light of dawn. A man in dark priests' robes turned the corner.

"I saw you come here last night child."  
>I sat up, listening to the sound of his voice, surprisingly soft and a lovely tone after the past days.<p>

He started to walk towards me, and I tried to ignore him. The last think I needed was another Christian salvation talk.

"You are still covered in blood."  
>I looked up at him. "Wanted for all the wrong reasons, mate."<p>

"Persecution?" He asked, seemingly nervous.

Biting my lip, I looked away again.

"You do not want to speak to me." He sighed. "I apologise for my mistake."  
>I shook my head, "I've taken sanctuary in holy places, and I always get the same responses."<p>

Coming closer, the priest put something on the floor. "There is a vigil that takes place each week. There is true sanctuary for all who need it. Those who can get help nowhere else."

I let him walk away.

Looking down at my hands, I turned them over. They were still stained with the blood of the last bounty hunter. Following my arms, I looked at my chest. There was blood there too.

Like a moody teenager, I sat there going over the decision to pick up the card for god-knows-how-long. The decision made me sit there until it started to rain. In the end I picked up the card to stop the chance running away from in the storm.

Turning over the small card in my hands, I made note of the time and place without thinking about it. My feet carried me there too.

I'd walked away from that area during the day, but when I was back by night, the church hall's doors were wide open, letting out a warm, inviting glow. The same priest stood outside in the damp, looking up and down the street.

There was a feeling deep in my stomach, a fear that he wanted me in there. Every part of me knew that even though I wanted to be dry and clean and warm… I couldn't adapt after being on the streets for every waking moment I could remember.

It was a black car he had been waiting for. A massive man and a woman who seemed tiny in comparison stepped out of it, whom the priest greeted enthusiastically.

He was distracted.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on the pinch in my stomach. When I opened them again, I was knelt beside the fire inside the hall. I was just going to dry off a little, but sat there for a while.

"I thought you said no one had turned up?" The woman said.

I jumped and backed away from the group.

"I-well-" The priest who'd seen me earlier looked from the doorway, to me, to the woman and to me again. "I've been at the doorway all evening. How did you get in?" He directed the question at me.

I fingered the card in my pocket, simply smiling at him.

It was the girl that smiled back at me. "Hey." She walked towards me.

"Hey." I replied.

"I'm Kate. What's your name?"

"Kel." I looked at my feet. "I- I just wanted to get dry. After that I'm gone."

Kate sighed. "That's okay. We can get you anything you need."  
>"All I need is a warm coat," I hugged the one I was wearing close to me, "And the locations of the bounty hunters."<p> 


	4. Like Touching A Bare Flame

_Watched The Five earlier.  
>love love LOVE Tesla! :D<br>Please R&R  
><em>

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><p>I stayed at the vigil long enough to dry off, was given some clean clothes and the use of a shower, all without questions as to who I was, where I was from, or why I needed to know where the hunters were. I stayed in Old City for a few days, waiting for the hype over the hunter's body to die down before I left.<p>

When I tried to however, I found that Drusus knew where I was. I ended up surrounded and being driven into a dead-end three nights after the vigil.

Out of desperation, I pictured the church hall and made sure my stomach pinched.

I fell into the Priests arms, having been caught in the shoulder at the last minute.

"Kel!" He helped me stand, "That's how you got in!" He laughed.

"Father Edwards! The Sanctuary, where is it?"

"Is everything ok?"  
>Tears came to my eyes. "Closest shave I've ever had. I can't get that close again."<p>

Edwards nodded, "South, three blocks, turn left. Can't miss it."  
>"Thank you." I hugged him and left quickly.<p>

I ran out, but straight into one of the three. I had met him before, Matt.

H threw me into the wall then shoved me into one of the others, a woman this time. I sliced through the air, just inches from her face as I fell, making her step back. Seizing the chance, I got my balance back and turned back to Matt. I went for his face too, but he caught my arm, lifted it above my head and shot me in the stomach.

In a moment of panic I pictured the great front door of the Sanctuary. My stomach pinched around the new wound, sending spikes of intense pain through to my legs and shoulders. The force of it made my entire body clench when we reappeared inside the gothic building. I screamed out in pain, only being held up through the ordeal by Matt's hand. He let go instead of holding on and tried to leave through the door.

I grabbed his ankle from the floor and flashed again to another room, hopeful there would be no walls nearby. I was right.

Pain pulsed through me once more, slightly less intense than the last wave. I pulled on Matt's ankle so he fell flat on his face. Holding onto my stomach, I fled, only to be hit once more. The shoulder his time.

When I tried to teleport a third time, pain coursed through my neck and head. I screamed out, only managing to get to the other side of a wall where I fell down and knocked over a table and vase.

Curling up, I sobbed, yelling in pain each time I tried to move. Someone came through the door and ran over to me. "How did you get in."  
>"Bo-b-bounty hun-unter." I choked out.<p>

Whoever it was started to examine my shoulder. Though the wound was almost healed and the bullet fell into his hand, the pain still flowed in my arm.

"Stay here, we'll find the hunter." And with that, my visitor was gone, in the same way I had arrived. After I saw, I longed to tell him what the bullets did when I teleported.

Lying there, I brought my breathing under control and tried to stand. My recovery was quickly interrupted. Matt came through a nearby door, and, in desperation I flashed behind him and started to run down the corridor, holding down my head when I heard gun shots.

The shock of a third bullet almost forced me to teleport. I had no control over it as I jumped randomly down the corridors.

Running and flashing, running, running, flash, run, run, run, flash, flash.

With each teleport I stumbled and shook, screaming as I went.

Elevator!  
>I ran inside, closing the door and curling up in the corner, trying to regain control again.<p>

I had my claws at the ready when the door opened, but behind it was a smaller man than the one I had met.

"New recruit?" I didn't answer.

"What's going on?" He knelt beside me.

Shuffling to get comfortable, I tried to speak to him, "Bounty hunter, chasing me, got in. Bullets, they burn."

"Where?"  
>"Upstairs."<p>

The latest visitor pressed a button on the control panel.

The doors closed on that floor and moments later opened on a similar, but familiarly blood-stained floor. Another, taller and far more intimidating man stood there; when he spoke I noticed he was the first one I met. He helped me up and carried me, my arm around his shoulder, through the corridor while the other went the opposite way.

"What's your name?" he asked.  
>"Kel."<p>

"I'm John. It'll be okay Kel. There are cameras in every inch of the building."

Gunshots sounded from far away.

John looked behind us and told me where he was taking me, the infirmary.

Making my way there, I held my stomach tightly, waiting for the wound to heal. The movement was by no means helping.

Opening the door, I found exactly who I didn't want to.


End file.
